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<br />The adjustment factor found for each duration is used to modify the <br />corresponding rainfall depth for that duration by multiplying these two quantities. <br />Once this step has been completed, all rainfall values have been adjusted for the <br />particular drainage area being studied. <br /> <br />3.5. PARTIAL-TO-ANNUAL SERIES ADJUSTMENT. The previously <br />described rainfall amounts are for partial-duration series of rainfall values. Conversion <br />of rainfall values to an annual series may be needed. This adjustment is applicable <br />only to return periods with a frequency of 10 years or less. The rainfall depth- <br />frequency curve is converted from one for which one or more events per year were <br />used (called a partial-duration series, which is one in which all events above some <br />selected base value are used) to one using only a single event each year (called an <br />annual series. in which the single highest event each year is used, even though the <br />second highest in some years maybe greater than the highest in other years). For <br />economic analysis of agricultural areas, it 'is possible that damages are sustained by <br />flood events that have a probability of occurrence of more than once per year. Where <br />several floods per year are causing significant damage, it would be desirable to use <br />a partial-duration series and not make the adjustment. In many economic analyses, <br />especially in urbanizing areas, these multiple floods (once- or twice-per-year events) <br />do not cause significant damage. Therefore, the adjustment factor would be applied <br />to prevent the use of biased (high) rainfall depths to determine the low end of the <br />frequency curve. The adjustment from partial-to-annual series is performed by <br />multiplying the rainfall depths for each duration by the appropriate conversion factor. <br />The conversion factors are as follows: <br /> <br />SERIES <br />2-YEAR <br />5- YEAR <br />10-YEAR <br /> <br />FACTOR <br />0.88 <br />0.96 <br />0.99 <br /> <br />No adjustment is needed .for rarer return intervals since the two curves coincide after <br />the 10-year event. At this point, all adjustments have been made. The next step is <br />to proceed through further breakdown and arrangement of the hypothetical storm. <br /> <br />3.6. DIVISION INTO INCREMENTAL VALUES. One now takes the <br />adjusted rainfall values for a particular storm (there are usually six values) and further <br />subdivides these to arrive at a rainfall depth value for each time increment (for <br />example, there will be twenty-four values for the 6-hour-duration 15-minute-interval <br />case). This division into increments is usually performed by plotting the values of <br />rainfall depth (in inches) versus duration (in minutes) on logarithmic paper, fitting a <br />curve through these points. and then reading off accumulated depth values for each <br /> <br />7-16 <br />